Add a new page

"The Gift of the Shade is one that often causes an unreasonable amount of fear in the general population, considering its uses. Shades have mastery of darkness and shadow, which gives them a bad reputation far beyond what they deserve. To a shade, darkness is like daylight as far as vision is concerned. If anything, it is more comforting than daylight to them as their opponents cannot see nearly as well.

"Many scholars have postulated that Dragon, Kappa, Kobold and Thunderbird are linked as "elemental" gifts. Some have added Tengu and Cyclopes, and still others add the Gift of the Shade to the list. Similar to the elemental gifts, shade gives the ability to create and shape darkness. A very powerful shade can spread darkness across an entire house and beyond, but most shades just cloak a room in shadow or cause man-sized shadows to move and twist, distracting and disturbing opponents.

"More powerful people gifted with the shade's powers can make themselves nearly invisible while in shadows, blending in to the darkness. This also muffles their footsteps and distorts their origin. Fighting a shade in darkness is not an easy task. A very powerful shade can even dissipate into one area of a shadow and reappear in another.

"Man has long feared the darkness, wary of its ability to hide the unknown. A shade can focus on this, increasing the fear until it is an overwhelming urge. A victim of this will seek any form of illumination, to hold back the dark. Trapped in the dark, it is possible for such a victim to go mad."